Department for Transport

Heathrow Airport: Railways

lord carlile of berriew: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the franchise arrangements concerning the shuttle service between Heathrow Central and Terminal 4.

baroness vere of norbiton: The rail network at Heathrow is privately owned and is exempt from the franchising requirements of the Railways Act 1993. This means that the Secretary of State cannot designate services on that network for franchising. Train services operating on the Heathrow rail network are not provided under franchise agreements.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

lord truscott: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of HS2 Phase One being delivered on time and on budget.

baroness vere of norbiton: HS2 Ltd is currently working with its contracted suppliers to update and agree the latest cost and schedule positions for Phase One. Assessment of Phase One cost and schedule is therefore ongoing, and once completed we will make these details public as part of the Phase One Full Business Case which is due for publication later in 2019.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

lord truscott: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the viability of HS2; and if so, what are those plans.

baroness vere of norbiton: The Full Business Case for Phase One will review HS2 in terms of its strategic objectives, value for money, achievability, deliverability and affordability. It is due for publication later in 2019.

Taxis: Licensing

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to legislate to reform the regulations governing the taxi and private hire trades; and if so, when.

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to restricting cross border hiring to put an end to out-of-town taxi drivers operating in areas in which they (1) do not have a licence, and (2) threaten the safety of the public.

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whetherthey will reconsider introducing a statutory definition of (1) plying for hire, and (2) pre-booked, as recommended by the Task and Finish Group on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing.

baroness vere of norbiton: The response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing issued on 12 February committed to bring forward legislation to enable national minimum standards in licensing, enable greater enforcement powers for licensing officers and to establish a national licensing database to assist in the sharing of relevant information. Legislation will be brought forward when time allows. Taxis and private hire vehicle drivers are all subject to a ‘fit and proper’ assessment; any driver who poses a risk to public safety should not be permitted to hold a licence. Drivers are permitted to undertake pre-booked work outside of the area in which they are licensed. As set out in the Government’s response, the Government will consider how restrictions on out-of-area journeys might work in practice, with a view to legislating. The Government response to the Task and Finish Group report explained that, since the Law Commission concluded in 2014 that a statutory definition of plying for hire would not be a practical improvement on the current position and there being no change in the legal situation, the Government would not take forward that recommendation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Business: Billing

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their response toCreating a responsible payment culture: acall for evidence on tackling late payment, which closed 29 November 2018; and why it has not yet been published when Cabinet Office Government Consultation Principles state that responses to consultations should be published within 12 weeks of the consultation closing.

lord henley: The Creating a Responsible Payment Culture Call for Evidence received nearly 300 responses from a wide range of businesses, trade associations and individuals. This is the highest number of responses to a public consultation on this issue. It is important that have given those representations the consideration they deserve and use them to inform the action we will take on this important issue. The Government Response will be published shortly.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 16 April (HL15075), what proportion of their £8.6 million Greenhouse Gas Removal research programme with UK Research and Innovation is targeted at the removal of greenhouses gasses other than carbon dioxide.

lord henley: This information is publicly available on the Natural Environment Research Council website, from which the full list of projects funded by the Greenhouse Gas Removal research programme is provided in the attached document. One of the 13 projects is targeted at gasses other than carbon dioxide, specifically on new methodologies for removal of methane from the atmosphere. This project is receiving £223,782 in funding, or 3% of the programme total.



Projects funded by the GGR research programme
(PDF Document, 119.67 KB)

Business: Higher Education

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that Brexit could have on the ability of UK business schools to (1) recruit academic talent, and (2) attract research funding.

lord henley: The Government is committed to ensuring that institutions including UK business schools continue to be able to recruit academic talent and attract research funding after the UK has exited the European Union. Academic institutions in the UK recruit talent from within the UK and from overseas and an immigration system that supports this is an important component of their continuing success. The Government published the Immigration White Paper, outlining the future immigration system in December 2018 and is currently running an engagement programme with businesses and other stakeholders before publishing the Immigration Rules setting out the detail of the future system. In addition, since January 2018, the Government has implemented an extensive and wide-ranging package of changes to the immigration rules, aimed at supporting science, research and innovation including setting up a new Tier 5 (Government Authorised Exchange) Scheme to make it easier to sponsor the temporary movement of international researchers.Business schools attract funding for research from a range of sources including Horizon 2020, the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme. Until the UK exits the EU, the UK will continue to participate in Horizon 2020, as a Member State. If ratified, the Government’s proposed Withdrawal Agreement would ensure that following exit the UK could continue to participate in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 for the lifetime of projects. In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal at the end of the extension period, the Government has confirmed that the funding commitments made under the guarantee and its extension still stand. Through these commitments, the Government will underwrite funding for all successful competitive eligible UK bids to Horizon 2020 that are submitted before the end of the Programme - including those involving UK business schools. This guarantee will apply for the lifetime of projects and will provide funding for UK participation in Horizon 2020.Looking ahead, the Government would like the option to associate to the future excellence-based European research and innovation programmes, including Horizon Europe. We are actively engaging in the development of the Horizon Europe proposal in line with UK interests. BEIS is working with the National Academies, the Devolved Administrations and UKRI to develop ambitious and credible alternatives to association, through which we will enable world class collaborative research. BEIS has also commissioned Sir Adrian Smith to provide independent advice on international collaboration – specifically on potential future UK funding schemes in the context of the UK’s future ambitions for European and international collaboration on research and innovation. His advice will help inform the direction for the implementation of the Government’s ambition to ensure the UK continues to be a global leader in science, research and innovation, and an attractive country for individuals to study and work.

Computers

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop supercomputer technology in the UK.

lord henley: In the Spring Statement, the Government announced £79 million funding for the next national supercomputer ARCHER2. The supercomputer will be hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than a traditional desktop computer and will be used to run massive research simulations. This project is being delivered and supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Engineering and Physical Sciences, and the Natural Environment Research Councils. E-infrastructure, including supercomputing, is also a critical strand within UKRI’s national research and innovation infrastructure roadmap programme. This is seeking to increase our understanding of the UK’s current capabilities and future requirements with a final report expected later in 2019. We want to ensure that future investments in High Performance Computing will deliver benefits across research and innovation, including to tech start-ups and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. (SMEs). The Government will be working with UKRI and Tech UK on UKRI’s e-infrastructure strategy which will be engaging with tech-SMEs on how they can access high-performance computing for the benefit of their businesses.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Gulf States: Overseas Aid

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the allocated budget for the Gulf Integrated Activity Fund for the 2019/20 financial year; and which countries will receive support from that Fund.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 18 June 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The allocated budget for the Gulf Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) for the 2019/20 financial year is £20m. The IAF will fund activity in all seven six Gulf Cooperation Council States including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. and Yemen.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The allocated budget for the Gulf Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) for the 2019/20 financial year is £20m. The IAF will fund activity in all seven six Gulf Cooperation Council States including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. and Yemen.

Kosovo: Serbia

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for Kosovo and Serbia to reach an agreement to normalise relations between those countries; and whether they will endorse any bilateral agreements reached.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We assess that an agreement to normalise relations between the two countries can and should be reached through the EU-facilitated dialogue. We are pressing Kosovo to set out the steps it plans to take to revoke or suspend its 100 per cent tariffs on imports from Serbia. We are urging both Governments to re-commit themselves to the EU-facilitated dialogue, and to allow negotiations to resume so that a comprehensive, sustainable agreement can be reached that addresses outstanding issues, enhances regional stability and is supported by the citizens in both countries. I also stressed the importance of reaching an agreement during my recent visit to Belgrade during my meeting with the Foreign Minister.

Conflict Resolution

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to review and strengthen the effectiveness of conflict resolution policies of the UK to address persistent and accelerating conflict, and flashpoints; and what steps they are taking with partners inthe Commonwealth, the EU, and the UN to review equivalent policies.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The British Government continues to strengthen its conflict prevention policies and institutions so that they are fit to meet modern challenges. The Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF) was created in 2015 to support and deliver activity to tackle instability and to prevent conflicts, which threaten UK interests. The fund is an important driver of the government's Fusion Doctrine, which aims to improve the way cross-government capability is brought together. The CSSF is an inherently political fund which works closely with other donors, partner countries and multilateral institutions to deliver its programmes.DFID's cadre of 70 accredited conflict advisers are deployed across DFID country offices overseas, DFID Headquarters in the UK, seconded to the FCO and the Stabilisation Unit, or embedded in international institutions. We are also working through the UK funded Women Mediators across the Commonwealth initiative, a network of over 35 peacebuilders from Commonwealth countries, currently engaged in conflict prevention and resolution efforts. We are working to ensure more women are meaningfully participating in conflict prevention, and resolution, to ensure more inclusive and sustainable peace. We will continue to look for opportunities to enhance existing training of our staff and development of early warning mechanisms. This includes continuing to work closely with the EU, UN, Commonwealth and other organisations to see how we might improve our policies.

Conflict Resolution

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to review and strengthen the effectiveness of conflict resolution policies of the UK to address persistent and accelerating conflict, and flashpoints, particularly in (1) Honduras, and (2) Nicaragua; and what steps they are taking with partners in the Commonwealth, the EU, and the UN to review equivalent policies.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​On Honduras, the UK recently joined the G16 group of donors, which supports efforts to address issues pertaining to security, human rights and the rule of law, and engages with the Honduran Government and civil society organisations. On Nicaragua, the UK has publicly called for an end to the violent repression of peaceful protests, the release of arbitrarily detained political prisoners and for the Government to engage constructively in political dialogue, including in Nicaragua's Universal Periodic Review and supporting EU Council Conclusions and statements.

Israel: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the joint open letter sent to High Representative Federica Mogherini and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 4 June highlighting concern about the proposed United States' Middle East peaceplan and requesting that any plan that (1) does not uphold the principles of international law including the right to self-determination, fulfilment of human rights for Palestinians throughout the region, and (2) legitimises a policy of separation and fragmentation of the Palestinian population, should be rejected.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK’s longstanding position on the Middle East Peace Process is clear: we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state; based on 1967 with equal land swaps to reflect the national, security, and religious interests of the Jewish and Palestinian peoples. Every Israeli and Palestinian has the right to live in peace and security. We understand and share the deep frustration on all sides at the lack of progress on the Middle East Peace Process. The ongoing violence underlines that a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue.

Department of Health and Social Care

Dental Health: Children

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the frequency of the Children's Dental Health Survey, currently conducted every ten years.

baroness barran: The Dental Health Survey of Children and Young People has taken place every 10 years since 1973 with the most recent survey carried out in 2013. There are no plans to change the frequency of this survey which provides an important time series of information used to underpin and help plan dental health care for children in England. The Government is committed to improving oral health in England and the Child Dental Health Survey is a valuable source of data and indicator of children’s oral health over time.

Dental Health

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include specific measures to prioritise good oral health in the forthcoming Green Paper on prevention.

baroness barran: We are considering a number of policy options for the Prevention Green Paper including measures to improve oral health. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care (Seema Kennedy MP) has held a roundtable meeting with dental and oral health stakeholders on 19 June to discuss Government plans on prevention and oral health in more detail.

Vaccination

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the range of vaccination sources that could be provided in community pharmacies through the NHS.

baroness barran: Vaccination is one of the world’s most clinically effective public health interventions. Community pharmacies already provide National Health Service flu vaccination. During the 2018/19 flu season 1,431,538 vaccinations were provided in community pharmacy.NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently undertaking a review of all vaccinations and immunisations and community pharmacy is represented in that review.

Pharmacy

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the role of community pharmacies (1) in promoting self care, and (2) as a first point of contact recognised in contractual frameworks.

baroness barran: In terms of promoting self-care, community pharmacy contractors are already obliged by the community pharmacy contractual framework to provide advice and support to enable people to derive maximum benefit from caring for themselves or their families. NHS England and Improvement have been running the Help Us to Help You campaigns which educate the public on the ability of community pharmacies to help the public and patients with their needs relating to self-care and minor illness.In 2016, Public Health England (PHE) introduced profession-led self-assessment for attainment of healthy living pharmacy (HLP) level 1 status. This was followed by the introduction of a quality payment for HLP level 1 status attainment. As a result, there has been an increase in the numbers achieving HLP status. There are now more than 9,500 community pharmacies already accredited as HLPs, each with qualified health champions promoting health and wellbeing messages, helping to prevent people from becoming ill and maintaining the health of those that are already ill in their communities.PHE is developing an HLP framework for commissioners which can be used when commissioning public health services to ensure consistency of delivery across the country, due to be published in spring 2020. These services help to further increase the role of community pharmacy in prevention and improving health.In terms of community pharmacies as a first point of contact, the HLP initiative is also relevant.‎ In addition, since December 2017, NHS England and NHS Improvement has been piloting the Digital Minor Illness Referral Service. This is a service that allows referrals from NHS 111 to community pharmacies for advice and support for minor illnesses and health concerns. The outcome for the patient, if they attend the pharmacy for a consultation with the pharmacist, may be either to receive advice alone or advice with access to medicines through a private sale of an over the counter medicine or potentially a medicine supply through a locally commissioned minor ailment scheme. In November 2018, the pilot was expanded to include London, Devon and the East Midlands., in addition to the North East.Since 2016, the NHS Medicines Supply Advanced Service has been piloted. This is service manages a referral from NHS 111 to a community pharmacy where a patient has contacted NHS 111 because they need urgent access to a medicine or appliance that they have been previously prescribed on a National Health Service prescription.Furthermore, the Department, with NHS England and NHS Improvement, has now begun negotiations with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to determine the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for 2019/20 and beyond. These are confidential negotiations and as such we are unable to provide further detail at this time.

Pharmacy

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to build on the benefits of the Healthy Living Pharmacy framework and to increase the role of community pharmacies in the prevention of ill-health.

baroness barran: Both the NHS Long Term Plan and the Prevention is Better than Cure vision document, published in November 2018, set out an ambition for community pharmacy to take on an expanded role to support the prevention of ill-health. In 2016, Public Health England (PHE) introduced profession-led self-assessment for attainment of Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) level 1 status. This was followed by the introduction of a quality payment for HLP level 1 status attainment within the community pharmacy contractual framework. As a result, there has been an increase in the numbers achieving HLP status. There are now 9,562 community pharmacies in England, meeting standards set out by Public Health England and delivering a wide range of lifestyle and public health interventions. For example, to support national Smile Month. 74,563 pharmacy staff across England have passed an assessment of knowledge on children’s dental health and have taken part in a mandatory campaign to reduce oral health inequalities, to improve oral health in children under five.In line with this, the NHS Long Term Plan outlines an aim for voluntary sector partners, community pharmacists and general practitioner practices to work together to facilitate opportunities for the public to check on their health, through tests for high blood pressure and other high-risk conditions. The Department is now developing a Green Paper on Prevention to further work up this ambition and plans for delivering it. This will be published later this year.

General Practitioners

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many single-handed GP practices there are in each Clinical Commissioning Group area in England.

baroness barran: The number of general practitioner (GP) practices which recorded a single headcount GP as of 31 March 2019 for each clinical commissioning group in England is attached.



Single-handed GP practices in each England CCG
(Word Document, 32.56 KB)

Food: Imports

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the preparations of the Food Standards Agency regarding implementing any new legislation that may be required for imported products after Brexit.

baroness barran: As a non-Ministerial Government Department responsible for food safety and authenticity, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been preparing extensively for the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. This includes: - ensuring EU regulations will operate correctly when they become UK law;- strengthening its risk analysis process;- developing a clear plan for how risk will be managed; and- finalising the systems and technology that will support how food businesses are regulated in the future. Leaving the EU does not change the FSA’s top priority which is to ensure that food remains safe and what it says it is.

Department for Education

Refugees: English Language

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their commitments given to co-ordinate and fund community-based English language provision made in their Integrated Communities Action Plan published in February; whether they intend to respond to Refugee Action’s campaign Let Refugees Learn and the recommendations in its report Turning words into action, published in June; and what assessment they have made of the importance of refugees learning English as a driver for integration and in combatting social exclusion.

lord agnew of oulton: Following the commitments set out in the cross-government Integrated Communities Action Plan (attached), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) established a new Integrated Communities English Language programme, worth £4.5 million, in April 2019. It will deliver community-based English language learning in 2019-20 for over 19,000 learner places. In addition, MHCLG has committed £1.2 million to support 8 local authorities to deliver coordination models through the Integrated Communities English Language Coordination Fund.The government recognises that learning English is essential to enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages in 2019. This strategy will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision and this will include addressing the needs of refugees. We will consider the ‘Turning Words into Action’ report as we develop the strategy.



HL16235_report
(PDF Document, 475.88 KB)




HL16235_report
(PDF Document, 821.72 KB)

Children: Social Services

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the Serious Case Reviewspublished by the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Board on 5 June, and (2) the report by the Commissioner for Children’s Services in Northamptonshire Optimum delivery and governance arrangements: children's services in Northamptonshire, published on 14 May; and what steps they are taking to ensure that local authorities are sufficiently equipped to ensure that preventable deaths of children do not occur in future.

lord agnew of oulton: The two serious case reviews published by Northamptonshire’s local safeguarding children’s board, on 5 June 2019, identify serious and systemic practice issues in the local area. It is imperative that the analysis in the serious case reviews identifies the right learning points and recommendations. We have taken urgent action to improve services in Northamptonshire by appointing Malcolm Newsam as the Commissioner for Children’s Services. He has a remit to secure immediate remedial action and drive a longer-term programme of improvement in the county. The department has also written to Mr Newsam to ask that he consider the lessons learnt and assure himself that the recommendations are indeed the right ones to effect change. We are also funding Lincolnshire county council, an outstanding local authority and part of the Government’s Partners in Practice initiative, to provide immediate improvement, support and capacity to Northamptonshire county council to ensure the safety of children in the county.On 14 May 2019, My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government made a written statement signalling the government’s intention to act on recommendations from the Commissioner's report. The intention is to establish a Children’s Services Trust that provides a stable base for improvement during a period of wider re-organisation in Northamptonshire. On 10 June 2019, a statutory direction was issued to Northamptonshire county council to co-operate with the Commissioner in the establishment of the Trust. This initiative is just part of an extensive range of support and comprehensive reforms that allow us to take swift, decisive action to either prevent or address failure in local authorities. These reforms include establishing a new specialist social work regulator, Social Work England, and rolling out a national assessment and accreditation system for social workers. We are also committing £84 million (over the next five years) to build on learning from the most promising innovation projects, such as the ‘Strengthening Families, Protecting Children’ programme. This programme aims to improve social work practice and decision-making so that children’s social workers are confident in their support of children and young people to enable them to stay safely at home with their families, where this is deemed to be in their best interests.

English Language: Education

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that comprehensive support is available in England to enable all refugees to learn English; and when they plan to match the provisions available in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, and (3) Northern Ireland.

lord agnew of oulton: The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will include addressing the needs of refugees.The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities. This includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally.The Home Office and Department for Education have provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.

Department for International Trade

Overseas Trade: South America

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve post-Brexit trading ties with South American countries.

viscount younger of leckie: The Department for International Trade works extensively throughout South America to strengthen the UK’s trade and investment relationships, with staff based in 19 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean (LatAC). In 2018 Joanna Crellin was appointed as HM Trade Commissioner for LatAC to coordinate the Government’s effort overseas to promote UK trade and prosperity. The Prime Minister also appointed two Trade Envoys in the region to promote trade and investment: Mark Prisk, the MP for Hertford and Stortford, for Brazil and Mark Menzies, the MP for Fylde, for Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina. As the UK prepares to leave the EU, we have concluded trade continuity agreements with Chile and the Andean Community (Colombia, Peru and Ecuador), which will allow us to continue trading on preferential terms. Ministers and teams in the region regularly discuss trade with their counterparts, including through regular dialogues such as the Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to start the pilot of Universal Credit managed migration in July; if so, when in July; and what meetings they have held with stakeholders to discuss any such pilot.

baroness buscombe: We plan to commence the Move to UC pilot when the necessary preparations are in place, subject to management checks of readiness. Preparations are proceeding to plan.Stakeholder engagement has been and continues to be a vital part of the work we are doing on Universal Credit. Since last October we have been working closely with a diverse range of stakeholders to listen to their views and to better understand their concerns, to ensure the widest possible range of insights are played into the design of the process for moving claimants from legacy benefits onto Universal Credit.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dangerous Dogs

lord hoyle: To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking in relation to dog attacks on guide dogs.

lord gardiner of kimble: In 2015, the Government amended the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to specifically make it an offence to allow a dog to attack an assistance dog. The maximum penalty for such an offence is three years imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both.

Tree Planting

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progressthey have made towards meeting thepledge to plant 11 million trees between 2015 and 2020; andwhether those trees are additional rather than replacement trees.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government is on course to plant 11 million trees this Parliament 2017-22. Woodland creation is a key activity in our 25 year Environment Plan. The Forestry Commission routinely publish statistics on planting rates for new woodland creation as part of their Corporate Performance Indicators. The latest figures show that from April 2017 to March 2019 at least 3.64 million trees have been planted, equivalent to approximately 2,318 hectares of woodland creation. These figures concern additional rather than replacement trees and as such exclude trees planted to restock woodland after timber harvesting operations. Government’s support for this woodland creation has predominantly been from the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Further Government support has been through the Environment Agency and National Forest Company. In the Autumn Budget the Government announced an additional £60 million for tree planting initiatives, comprising £10 million to fund urban tree planting and £50 million for a Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme. This will add to other new planting in the pipeline, supported by the High Speed 2 Woodland Fund, the Woodland Carbon Fund and Government’s kick start investment in the Northern Forest.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the target of restoring 50per cent of Sites of Special Scientific Interest by 2020 has been dropped; and if so, why.

lord gardiner of kimble: The target in the England Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 is still in place. We and Natural England are increasingly focused on delivering the more ambitious target, under our 25 Year Environment Plan. This commits to restoring 75% of our one million hectares of land and freshwater in protected sites to favourable condition.

Food

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what cross-departmental actions are being taken to develop an integrated food policy addressing nutrition, food inequalities and good farming practice.

lord gardiner of kimble: Government is committed to publishing a new National Food Strategy after the UK has left the EU. We are currently in the scoping phase and the Terms of Reference will be published shortly following the cross-Government agreement process. Defra’s Secretary of State has invited Henry Dimbleby, as Defra’s lead Non-Executive Director, to lead an independent review to inform this strategy. Subsequently the Government will develop a National Food Strategy white paper informed by this independent review, among other things. This is planned for six months after the publication of the review. Defra has engaged with other Government departments that have an interest in the Food Strategy. As many potential issues for inclusion fall outside Defra’s direct remit, effective and sustained cross Government working will be critical to the Strategy’s success.

Climate Change

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they supported the resolution on improving solar radiation management governance recently put before the UN Environment Assembly by Switzerland, before that resolution was dropped.

lord gardiner of kimble: Whilst the UK was supportive of the objectives of the Swiss proposal, and worked with them to try and help them find an acceptable text, given the complexity of the issue and a lack of common ground between UNEA member states at UNEA-4 it was not possible to find a compromise text at that time.

Home Office

Terrorism

lord stone of blackheath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 24 May (HL15688), whether they will now answer the question put, namely what assessment they have made of the impact of the ban on direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh on the current UK terrorist threat level.

baroness williams of trafford: I refer the noble Lord to my previous response.The threat level to the UK from international terrorism is kept under constant review by the independent Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, whose judgements about the threat level are made on the basis of the very latest reporting and intelligence. This can change at any time as different information becomes available.The current threat level from international terrorism is judged to be SEVERE, meaning an attack is highly likely.

Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development: Conferences

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many visa applications were (1) made by, and (2) refused for, participants and speakers in the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development conference, held in Westminster on 11 June;and on what grounds they made each such refusal.

baroness williams of trafford: Information on the stated purpose of visit or reasons for refusal is not held in a reportable field on the Home Office visa case-working system.The available statistics on grants and refusals by entry clearance visa category, including work and visitor visa routes, are published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/list-of-tables#visas.

Police: Voluntary Work

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Police Support Volunteers there were working for police forces in England and Wales in each year from 2014 to 2018.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police support volunteers working for each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins.The latest published figures, representing the picture as at 30 September 2018, can be accessed in ‘Table 7’ of the accompanying data tables here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-30-september-2018Data on the number of police support volunteers in England and Wales as at 31 March 2019 are due to be published on 18 July 2019.The Home Office has only collected data on police support volunteers since March 2018. Data for previous years are not held.



Police Workforce Tables - 2018
(Excel SpreadSheet, 110.77 KB)




Police Workforce - Report 2018
(PDF Document, 1.06 MB)

Treasury

Personal Income

baroness primarolo: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 21 May (HL15607), whether the figures given for total take-home pay, child benefit and tax credits for a family of two adults, one of whom is aged 25 or over and works 35 hours per week and receives the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, were adjusted for inflation to allow for accurate comparisons between years; and if not, whether they will provide such figures.

lord young of cookham: The figures in HL15607 were shown in cash terms. The table below shows the same table in April 2019 prices, adjusted using the Consumer Prices Index and rounded to the nearest £5. Table 1: Total take-home pay, Child Benefit, and tax credits in April 2019 prices for a family with two adults, one of whom is aged 25 or over and works 35 hours per week and receives the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage Year£ per annum2010-1120,2752011-1220,1502012-1319,9702013-1419,9252014-1519,8852015-1620,2902016-1720,6702017-1820,4002018-1920,1852019-2020,135 The table above is true for a family with a particular set of circumstances. On average real household disposable income per person is 6.7% higher than at the start of 2010 – meaning people have more money to spend than they did in 2010. Since unemployment has fallen 48% since 2010, families are also significantly more likely to have at least one person in work now than in 2010. The government has introduced policies to increase take home pay since 2010 including; Increasing the Work Allowance in Universal Credit by £1000 from April 2019. This would provide up to an additional £630 per year for households with children and for people with disabilities; Doubling the amount of free childcare available to working parents of 3 and 4 year olds, saving families using the full 30 hours around £5,000 per year. This is in combination with increasing the amount that working families can claim back in childcare to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month under UC, compared to 70% on the legacy system. For families with two children this could be worth up to £13,000 a year; Increasing the Marriage Allowance from £1,190 in 2018-19 to £1,250 in 2019-20. The benefit is therefore worth up to £250 in 2019-20. It will continue to increase each time the Personal Allowance is increased.

Families: Disadvantaged

lord farmer: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatfunding they plan to provide to departments other than the Department for Work and Pensions for the purpose of reducing parental conflict in (1)in 2019–20, and (2) overthe next five years.

lord young of cookham: In addition to DWP’s £39m Reducing Parental Conflict programme, the government provides funding to other departments that can contribute to a reduction in parental conflict, including a £6m joint DHSC/DWP package of measures to support children living with alcohol-dependent parents, the Public Health Grant to local authorities (£3.13bn in 2019/20) to funds public health services, such as treatment, prevention and reducing harm from alcohol and drug misuse in adults, and the MHCLG led Troubled Families programme (£200m in 2019/20). Alongside this, over the course of this Parliament, the Government is spending £100 million to support victims and survivors of violence against women and girls. Decisions on future funding for reducing parental conflict will be made in the round at the next Spending Review.

Exchange Rates

lord birt: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for (1) sterling losing nearly five per cent of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of May this year, and (2) other major currencies holding their value over the same period.

lord young of cookham: The government does not comment on movements in financial markets. It is also important to note that the UK does not have an exchange rate target. Instead the UK’s macroeconomic framework is based on an inflation target, and it is for the independent Monetary Policy Committee to set monetary policy to meet this target.